Eichner Gets Nearly Five Years in Pitman Embezzlement

CAMDEN, NJ—The former CFO of printing industry supplier Harold M. Pitman Co. was sentenced to 56 months in prison for embezzling more than $2 million from his former employer, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.

John Eichner, 50, of Montvale, NJ, previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of income tax evasion before U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle, who also imposed the sentence in federal court here.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Eichner embezzled money from the Pitman Co. by falsifying his expense reimbursement forms. He submitted numerous requests for reimbursement for personal expenses—including lodging at luxury hotels and resorts, meals at high-end restaurants, along with clothing and jewelry from high-end retail stores.

Eichner also caused wire transfers to be sent from Pitman accounts to pay for additional personal expenses he incurred, including a $30,000 wire to pay for cases of wine that he had purchased from Sotheby’s. In all, he fraudulently obtained more than $2 million as a result of the scheme, and purposefully failed to report the illicit proceeds of his scheme to the IRS.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Simandle sentenced Eichner to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $2,349,162 in restitution.